Boeing CEO says he’ll be on 737 Max flights when plane returns to air

CHICAGO – Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg said during a Monday shareholders meeting that he will be a passenger on the controversial 737 Max plane when it resumes flights.

“We will have Boeing teammates deployed with our customers as we bring the [737 Max] fleet back up, and that will include first flights for many of our customers,” Muilenburg said. “So it will include me and many others, and we are going to be doing this in partnership with many of our airlines.”

Muilenburg faced a barrage of questions from investors and the media at the first shareholders meeting held since two 737 Max flights crashed.

The plane has been grounded worldwide since March 13, shortly after the crash of Ethiopian Airlines Flight ET302 and months after Lion Air Flight JT610 crashed in October, Business Insider reported. In all, 346 passengers and crew were killed.

Muilenburg stopped short of stating the planes had a design flaw, The Washington Post reported. He instead said the crashes were caused by “a chain of events” that included problems with the plane’s software and a sensor.

Muilenburg said the company is working on a software update and is coordinating with the Federal Aviation Administration to prepare for a formal certification flight, The Post reported. The CEO added that he plans to be on two of those test flights.